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DEMOCRATS and Republicans don't agree on much these days, but the
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Bob Graham of
Florida, and the Ranking Member, Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama,
concur that there are at least 100 al Qaeda operatives hiding in the
United States. Graham says they pose an "immediate threat'' to our
security. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said virtually the same
thing in Monday's (March 4) Washington Times, warning of terrorist
sleeper cells in the United States.

The magnitude of the problem confronting law enforcement officials
searching for these killers-in-hiding is revealed by the Department of
Justice. Spokesman Dan Nelson says that following the Sept. 11
attacks, U.S. authorities arrested 560 terror suspects. Some were
released after investigations failed to turn up evidence that would
justify their continuing to be held. As of last week, Nelson says 327
remain in detention and under investigation.

Of far greater concern is what Nelson says are "314,000
absconders,'' people who've been ordered deported but law enforcement
cannot find them. These are aliens in the United State illegally
because they've violated their visa status. Nelson says deportations
will increase as each case is processed. But with 314,000
"absconders,'' this is bound to be laborious and time-consuming. Can
we afford to wait?

While waiting (and hopefully not long) for the deportations to
begin, perhaps something can be done about the training grounds of
hate currently on American soil. The Washington Post has carried
several stories on Islamic schools in the Washington area which teach
Muslim children that "the day of Judgment can't come until Jesus
Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross, and converts everyone to
Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews.'' It's that last part
that ought to be of concern.

The Post reports there are "about a dozen'' of these schools
between Baltimore and Richmond and 200 to 300 nationwide, with at
least 30,000 students. Thousands of other students attend Islamic
weekend schools, the Post reports. One of the schools profiled by the
newspaper is the Islamic Saudi Academy, located in the Virginia
suburbs of Washington. An 11th grade textbook at the school says one
sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight and kill
Jews, who will hide behind trees that say, "Oh Muslim, Oh servant of
God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.'' The
Saudi government subsidizes the school, whose role in educating
students in the extremist Wahabi brand of Islam has been widely
reported.

A recent letter to the editor of the Post from Elihu D. Stone, of
Sharon, Mass., expressed the concern felt by many Americans over what
is being taught in some Islamic schools: "Saudi Arabia is supposed to
be a member of the coalition against terror, yet it is exporting to
schools on our shores an ideology that supports terror over civics,''
Stone wrote. Students at many of these schools are not required to
take U.S. history.

Another Post letter was even more to the point. Thomas A. DiMaggio,
of York, Penn., wrote regarding the same curriculum: "When this
(anti-Semitic) filth is brought to the attention of a member of one of
the state accrediting authorities, the most he can muster by way of
outrage is to say that his organization does not delve into curriculum
extensively, but that it would be concerned about such material being
taught.''

It's time to be more than concerned. Any school - whether Muslim or
white supremacist - that teaches hate and encourages violence should
not be accredited by a state and, in fact, should be shut down. In the
name of tolerance and academic freedom, we have allowed schools to
proliferate that teach ideas antithetical to the American way of life
and are a threat to the very existence of our country. This is
sedition. Those who hate us are using our openness and good will
against us.

We will continue to tolerate this at our peril. In fact, the peril
is already here as demonstrated six months ago on Sept.
11.